‘No,’ Edie says. ‘I have a “predicament” of my own.’

I can feel my jaw drop. ‘Oh no,’ I say. ‘Not another one!’

‘Another one,’ my sister confirms. ‘I know you’ll find this hard to believe. I’m pregnant again.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Of course I am.’

‘Have you done a pregnancy test?’

‘No, I haven’t,’ she puffs. ‘I’ve had six bloody kids, Lyssa. I don’t need some ten-quid kit to tell me I’m knocked up again.’

I lower my voice. ‘What are you going to do?’

‘Do?’ Edie says. ‘I’m going to do what I always do, say goodbye to my ankles and balloon like a heifer for the next nine months until it drops.’

‘But do you want it? Do you really want another child?’

‘Children are the one thing I’m not short of,’ Edie says, ‘now you come to mention it.’

‘You could always…’ I draw a quick line across my throat, unable to speak the word.

‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ she tuts. ‘I couldn’t do that. How could anyone?’

I lower my eyes.

‘How could I do…that…when I know how desperately you want a baby?’

And the strange thing is until Edie brought it up, I hadn’t even considered this as another example of how her gain reflected my loss. Would I have reacted differently a month ago?

My sister puts her hand on my arm. ‘You’re okay about it, aren’t you?’ she says.

‘Yes, I’m fine.’ Other than marvelling at my sister’s propensity for accidental procreation, my emotions are all firmly intact. ‘I’d be even more delirious for you if I thought it was what you wanted.’

My sister hangs her head. ‘I’d be delirious if I thought it was what I wanted.’

‘How on earth did it happen?’

She looks at me askance. ‘The usual way.’

‘I thought you’d have given it up by now.’

‘Actually,’ she says, ‘this is all your friend Pip’s fault.’

‘Pip?’

She hesitates slightly and I can see her flush. ‘I had lunch with him while you were away….’

I give her a long, sideways glance. ‘Oh yes?’

She looks at the table. ‘We talked about you and Jake.’

‘I thought my ears were burning out in Nepal.’

‘He told me that Lee and I should go out for a wild night on the town and get roaring drunk.’ Edie looks rather sheepish. ‘We took him at his word. You know what I’m like when I’ve been at the vodka. We got a bit carried away.’

‘Oh, Rabbit!’ I say, reverting to her old nickname.

‘Don’t you “Oh, Rabbit” me,’ she says. ‘It’s that randy old brother-in-law of yours. He took advantage of me. My knickers were on the ceiling fan before I knew what was happening.’